LISA
An Evening at the Fair
I’d begged since January to go then shat myself the whole time I was there. Bright lights randomly pierced the darkness. Crowds jostled against the backdrop of laughter and shouting. We shot arrows, missed targets, yearned for those big bags of candyfloss, the oversized cuddly toys.
Susan Sanders walked by clutching a toy bear a whole head higher than herself. Her grin as she looked at us will stay with me forever. Pride mixed with disdain. The rumour at school the week after was that her Dad had spent millions trying to win it for her.
I started that rumour.
RICHARD
Geek
When I was in school, they told me computers were the way forward. So, I signed up for computer club, becoming one of the geeks that the bullies loved to pick on, and – of course – none of the girls wanted anything to do with me.
Throughout my miserable teens, I learned to code, becoming successful and making millions from developing software and business applications.
So now, I have the last laugh.
Now the girls fall over themselves, when I roll up to the club in my Ferrari.
As for the bullies?
I write viruses to clean out their bank accounts!
LIZZIE
Millions in the bank. She laughed, the fire pit crackling.
The safe. She had cracked it open so easily.
And the code. It was right there for her to grab.
She just walked out of the office and no one noticed.
Doing that boring secretary job for six months was worth it.
The new generation bought the code from her for a fortune. Smart kids. Nothing like their mobster fathers.
It was much better to be in the cottage than in that horrible office.
They were looking for her, of course. But money buys a lot of things, including silence.
SERENDIPIDY
Follow the high street as far as the convenience store, and park up when you get there. You’re not going to need the car from there because you’ll be going off-road.
Look for a gap in the fence, and go through, then follow the mud track for about half a mile. Eventually, the path will come to an end: Look for the arrow carved into the old oak, which will show you the way forward.
You’ll come to an old tin shack.
And that’s where you’ll find me. Waiting in the darkness.
But only, if I don’t find you, first.
NORVAL JOE
Linoliamanda held up the printout of her schedule. “My next class is in room 248.” She looked at Sabrina. “Can you tell me how to get there?”
Without batting an eye, Sabrina said, “Oh yeah. That’s in a portable building in the forest, north of the cafeteria. You kind of go offroad, following the arrow that points across the soccer field. You know you’re there after you wade through a swamp with millions of mosquitoes hovering over it.”
Linoliamanda smiled and headed toward the cafeteria.
“Wait,” Chuck called after her. “Don’t listen to her. Follow us. That’s our classroom, too.”
PLANET Z
The January Code consists of a series of arrows in the eight cardinal directions.
Dots, circles, and bars on the stems allow for multiple ranks of characters.
At first, it was a simple substitution cipher, but it was easy to decode and break.
Then came a new variant, where it was the difference in angle between adjoining arrows that represented the intended character.
The dots and bars spelled out another message in Morse Code.
By the time the enemy had figured out the message, we’d already have attacked.
If we could decipher the damned thing in a timely manner, too.